May - June 2015 IntraSyd

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People, Places & Events in Greater Sydney MAY - JUNE 2015

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Experiencing Healthy Living

It seems like yesterday when we celebrated the new year, and now we find ourselves nearly halfway through 2015. With the conclusion of the first quar ter, I have wonderful news to repor t.

In this quar ter, our retained tithe, which is the tithe which remains in our Conference after what is remitted to the Union, is up 14% from the same period last year, and 11% on our budget.

This is great news, because our tithe funds are really needed in our Conference to fur ther our mission, which is to Grow in Discipleship. Our 2015 budget for our Conference is what I like to call “A budget by faith”, where we plan to spend every cent of funds we receive and then a little bit more.

We do this because the need is great, and our perceived resources do not quite stretch to meet our needs. So we

eva ing, chief financial officer

It is easy to underestimate the instruction God has given us in regards to healthy living. What a blessing to have less serious illness and disease on average compared to the general population; to live longer and enjoy better overall health. And all these blessings by following a few basic principles, such as eating as much plant-based food as possible, getting regular exercise, drinking lots of water, staying away from poisonous substances and so on.

For me, it is summed up by getting as close as possible to God’s original plan for humans in the Garden of Eden. After all, He said it was “very good”.

Highlights from Church Ltd Board • Our board is receiving regular updates from the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse and as a result, there will be an increased focus on the screening, induction and training of employees and volunteers within the organisation, including at the local church level.

• The Conference has taken the opportunity to purchase the TV station on Norfolk Island which includes two channels.

Hope Channel is now broadcast on one of those channels into every home and motel room on the Island.

Highlights from the Executive Committee • The Light Hope Group, currently meeting in Campbelltown and formerly independent, has voted to become part of the

adrian raethel, general secretary

SUNSET TIMES

Friday 19 June Sabbath 20 June Friday 26 June Sabbath 27 June Friday 3 July Sabbath 4 July Friday 10 July

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Sabbath 11 July Friday 17 July Sabbath 18 July Friday 24 July Sabbath 25 July Friday 31 July Sabbath 1 August

May - June 2015 \ www.sydney.adventist.org.au

live by faith that God will provide us that bit extra to do all the ministry, evangelism and discipleship that is so needed in Greater Sydney. We know that God always comes through for us so we praise and thank Him for His goodness, and we also acknowledge and encourage the faithfulness of our members in returning their tithe.

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Conference and has been granted group status. We are delighted with this outcome.

A series of three consultation meetings has recently been held around the Conference addressing the possible redevelopment of the Conference office site following State Government rezoning. More information will be circulated to members in the coming weeks.

After planning and saving for almost 25 years, the Sydney Central Korean Church has been providentially successful in purchasing an existing Church facility in North Ryde and will commence worship services there in early June.

Developmental Approval has been received for the Wahroonga School development. Construction of the middle school building is expected to commence in the near future. The high school will open its doors for Year Seven at the beginning of the 2016 school year in relocatable buildings until the permanent facility is completed.

The Wantok (mostly Melanesian) group that meets in Asquith has been granted company status.

Expressions of interested invited for two vacancies on Adventist Aged Care (GS) Ltd board of directors: 1) Person with medical background; 2) Person with strategic and/or financial skills. Voluntar y positions; meet 7 times a year.

Contact Adrian Raethel: 9868 6522 or adrianraethel@adventist.org.au.

5:03 pm 5:06 pm 5:07 pm 5:11 pm 5:12 pm 5:15 pm 5:15 pm

OFFERING SCHEDULE

Sabbath 20 June Sabbath 27 June Sabbath 4 July Sabbath 11 July Sabbath 18 July Sabbath 25 July Sabbath 1 August

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Local Education Local General Conference Session Local Pacific Island Advancement Local

Many things in life are taken for granted until we lose them. During the recent floods in Sydney and the Central Coast, many realised they had taken electricity for granted when they had to do without it for some time. For some, clean drinking water, flowing freely from the taps in their houses was also affected, and therefore appreciated once it was reinstated. When people didn’t have power and water for several days, it threw their lives into chaos.

For many of us, we take good health for granted, that is, until we go through a major health crisis. I know this from personal experience. In August 2014, I was busy making final preparations for the Constituency Meeting, when all of a sudden, through a severe bout of viral pneumonia, I was rushed to hospital and for some hours was in critical condition. Praise God I have fully recovered, and I am enjoying full health and strength again.

As Seventh-day Adventists we have been given a wonderful health message. The challenge is that many of us have taken it for granted. In addition to the inspiration of the Bible and Ellen White’s writings, we find that the scientific evidence stacks up in favour of a plant-based diet.

As a church we have been blessed with this message for around 150 years, yet today many of us have turned our backs on it.

I have to admit, that for many years, my diet and exercise routine were less than ideal. I remember clearly, in November 2013, I reached the point where I decided that enough was enough and that I had to do something to readjust my lifestyle to better measure up to the one that I ascribed to in principle. God has blessed me, and slowly but surely, as I have practiced more closely the health message that we have as a church, I have shed almost 20kg. The result? I feel healthier, happier and more aler t and have much more energy than I did previously. I have been asked many times what I have done to lose the weight, and to quote a colleague, my response has been, “Eat Less, Move More”. I should qualify that by adding that I have been eating better too. Often the response from the person enquiring was that they were hoping for a simpler and easier way to achieve the same results.

1 Timothy 4:8 says, “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” So whilst it is impor tant to

michael worker, president follow the principles of healthy living and to exercise on a regular basis, how much more impor tant is it to apply the same discipline to our spiritual lives. In addition to focusing on our health and well-being here in this life, we also need to focus on our spiritual well-being, ensuring that we have a vibrant and active prayer life as well as studying the Bible on a daily basis. This builds excellent spiritual health and wellbeing. God bless you as you live a healthy lifestyle whilst training and preparing for the soon coming of Jesus.

Technology:

eGiving App

Do you have the eGiving App? It’s a great tool that makes it easy to pay your tithes and offering. Take a look below to see what the app looks like and get it from this link: ACCESS EGIVING APP: http://apple.co/1cfzdtp CFO, Eva Ing shares, “As I’ve been visiting and preaching at churches in Greater Sydney, lately I’ve been promoting and encouraging the use of eGiving. What a fantastic tool this is! Not only is it great for you because it makes it so easy to give, but it is a great benefit to our faithful and hardworking local church treasurers. Because every dollar given through eGiving, is a dollar that does not need to be counted, handled and banked by our treasurers. eGiving receipts are attributed to your church so if you return your tithe through eGiving, these funds are credited to your local church.”

N e x t I n t r a s y d D e a d l i n e 0 8 J U LY

Communication Director: Michael Worker Editor: Rachel Lemons Aitken Design: Rachel Lemons Aitken Editorial Consultant: Adrian Raethel

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sydney@adventist.org.au PH: (02) 9868 6522 Fax: (02) 9868 6533 4 Cambridge Street Epping 2121

ON THE COVER: Fox Valley Community Centre Monday night basketball Photo Credit: Peter Aitken Greater Sydney Conference Communication Department

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Hoxton Park is running a vegetarian cooking program with Jim Tyrokomos presenting the health talk followed by Shirley Santos and Rose Ebron cooking up a storm.

Angela Saunders, Senior Dietitian-Science and Advocacy, Sanitarium, conducts a popular health talk for the Thornleigh community.

Woollahra Church’s cooking demos are attracting the community. This demo focused on soy and featured Baked Tofu, Couscous Edamame Salad and a Baked Berri Tofu Pie. The demos will continue each Wednesday evening, with the next topic, Focusing on Calcium.

n o i t a r i p #Ins these churches are Get inspired by how a healthier community using health to create the church. within and outside of that might make a big Do you see any ideas ch and community? difference in your chur

Always popular with the community, Epping Church has hosted a variety of health programs, including CHIP, Health Assessments, Veggie Cooking Demos and regular health seminars by their many health professionals.

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Fairfield Church Health Team, has been developing their skills in providing Health Assesments. The training will prepare the team to participate in an upcoming community Health Expo.

May - June 2015 \ www.sydney.adventist.org.au

Mt Druitt Samoan Church’s exercise classes provide a winning edge in the Biggest Winner weight-loss competition.

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17 participants are developing skills to conduct community health programs at their churches and local communities due to the dedicated training of Sibilla Johnson, who is conducting a Cert IV in Community Health Education at the Conference Office.

From 17-18 April, 16 men from Auburn Church, attended the first Auburn Men’s Camp.

Organised by head deacon, Katoa Kofeloa, it featured plenty of food and an awesome message based on the theme of the Holy Spirit by guest speaker, Heath Walsh.

Blacktown Church’s Noeleen Mackintosh and her team run Vegetarian Cooking Classes twice a year and these classes are very popular in the community, with typically 12-20 non-Adventists in attendance.

Celebrating Mother’s Day & International Midwives Day, close to 500 babies & mums gathered on the SAN’s Village Green for the SAN Teddy Bears’ Picnic on Tuesday 5 May to be reunited with the doctors and midwives who delivered them. Over 2000 babies are born each year at the Hospital.

Ana Gomes and her team challenge participants in the Sydney Portuguese Church’s Battle of the Diets: a competition between meat-eaters, lacto-ovo vegetarians and vegans to measure weight loss.

The Ryde Church recently began a 7-night cooking class. Quality programs encourage return students and smaller classes promote friendship opportunities.

Hurstville Church’s Dr. Christabelle Nath, medical practitioner, along with her sister Christina and family have conducted numerous CHIP and Depression Recovery Programs and regularly present health talks in churches around the Conference

Thalles and Geise were baptised recently at the Sydney Portuguese Church. The young couple married at the church 2 years ago, were attending the youth small group regularly and began singing in the youth choir. They are a blessing to the church community

Hoxton Park Church runs an exercise program in its car park each Sunday morning at 7.30 am followed by a healthy breakfast. The program is experiencing strong attendence, including people from the community.

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Contributed by Wanda Bierschbach As many as one in four people may experience depression at some time in their life. With symptoms ranging from low mood and lack of pleasure in day-to-day activities to feelings of wor thlessness and thoughts of self harm, it can be an overwhelming and debilitating experience. Rather than being a life-sentence, depression can largely be managed by addressing the physical, emotional, spiritual and medical causes.

Physical Given the strong connection between physical and mental health, looking after the body can often help heal the mind: • Exercise regularly – most days of the week, getting the hear t pumping • Sleep sufficiently – 7-8 hours nightly, at regular times • Drink plenty of water – 6-8 glasses daily • Eat a diet high in ‘anti-depressant’ nutrients – eg tryptophan, selenium, omega 3, folate and B vitamins • Spend time in the sun, improve breathing, limit intake of high cholesterol and high sugar foods, eliminate alcohol, cigarettes and coffee Emotional/Social Emotional trauma, complicated grief or significant stressors can contribute to the onset of depression. Work with a pressi Image Source: De

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professional to: Manage family conflict Learn to cope with grief and loss Challenge negative, unrealistic and unhelpful thoughts and expectations • Maintain strong family and social connections Spiritual While spiritual belief can be a great source of strength, for some, spiritual issues can be a source of angst, discouragement and negativity. A pastor or counsellor may help to: • Address excessive guilt over past decisions • Encourage forgiveness of self or others • Understand God's grace and forgiveness • Find encouragement in God's unfailing promises Medical Depression can be the result of chemical imbalances, or be too severe to be managed through practical interventions.

This is especially true when there are serious thoughts of self-harm or suicide. A doctor or psychiatrist should be consulted and may prescribe medication to help restore mood and brain function.

gram website on Recover y Pro

Depression Rec over y Pr ogram The Depression Recovery Program by Dr Neil Nedley is a community-based psycho-education program that holistically addresses the causes of depression. Run over eight weeks via DVD presentations and facilitated group discussions, it offers practical advice on improving physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Ryde Church recently ran this program at Gladesville library, with 11 par ticipants attending. At the graduation program, par ticipant comments included:

Participant’s Comment: “I have been depressed for the better par t of ten years, and spent hundreds of dollars on treatment. This program though, is the first one in which I’ve ever felt an improvement in my depression and anxiety.”

Participant’s Comment: “The session on grief helped me greatly in understanding the emotions I experienced after losing my wife two years ago” Participant’s Comment: “I don’t think I was very depressed, but the practical advice in this program helped improve my health in ways I didn’t even expect” Participant’s Comment: “I didn’t know healthy eating could also be tasty” For more information about this program, contact Wanda Bierschbach at wanda.b@me.com.

Beauty Tinania 2010 Winner. Beauty attended last year’s graduation and looks as great as ever.

Want to look and feel really great, have a bounce in your step and eyes that sparkle? “Biggest Winner” is about making winners of everyone that joins in the fun. It’s a competition for South Pacific Islanders that challenges par ticipants to be role models that attract attention to our wonderful Adventist lifestyle. The competition runs February – November each year and uses both height and weight (BMI)

of competitors to see who wins return flights to their island home in the Pacific.

One of the motivational secrets is to spend lots of time thinking about the benefits of healthy choices, however, winners typically stay in shape for years to come.

Now in its sixth year, the competition is still open for new entrants.

Simply call Lynda or Malcolm on (02) 9868 6522 for your appointment to participate in Biggest Winner

Experiencing Healthy Living God loves us so much, and He wants to see His image reflected in us so we will stand out in our communities and God’s children in the world will be drawn to Him. Not only is He desperate to see us living the best life possible … He is also desperate for them!

Appreciating God’s Blessings

He has given us everything we need and placed us in one of the best countries on ear th; the “promised land” of our contemporary world. Many people hear about what Australia has to offer and are doing everything they can to get here. How blessed we are. Some are dying to get here.

Live Life to the Full

We have been given the oracles of good health so that we can “live life to the full;” lives exploding with energy, vitality and happiness; waking up every morning feeling absolutely great and ready for anything! These are blessings to pass on to our children and our children’s children. God does not want to see any sick amongst us. He wants us to enjoy abundant life well into old age so that we can keep on praising and thanking Him for His goodness.

Healthy Adventist living continues to be a role model to our world.

Medical Science Validates Adventist Health

Malcolm Rea, Health Director, said “When I studied in the School of Health Administration* at NSW University, one of our text books dedicated three pages to writing about the Adventist lifestyle setting it up as “an ideal.”

Medical science continues to validate Adventist health.

What are the key elements of our Health Message?

Adventist-produced programs,** NEW START, CREATION and CELEBRATIONS, capture the central message.

Ellen White sums it up with: “Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness (temprance in diet), rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power …” Ministry of Healing p127. I am sure when Jesus said, that He wanted to give us “life to the full,” He had our complete, mental, physical, financial, psycho-social, emotional and spiritual health in mind.

In today’s busy world time management is a real struggle for many of us. Perhaps the key to the balance we struggle to achieve might be found by truly making Jesus centre of our lives. When we do this many times pressures “evaporate.”

The “lucky country:” health, joy and vitality; we really do have much to thank God for! * Established in par t through a donation from the Kellogg’s Foundation ** Available from the Conference Office

Contributed by Malcolm Rea, Health Director of the Greater Sydney Conference. Call Malcolm on (02) 9868 6522 to discuss ways of sharing these blessings today! He is waiting to hear from you.

A DV E N T I S T S C H O O L FULFILS A 50-YEAR GOAL Contributed by Anjuli Cruz, Sydney Adventist Schools Marketing Manager

here are few things more exciting in a school career than looking forward to moving on to the next class, particularly if you’ve been looking forward to it for over 50 years.

Wahroonga Adventist School’s recent approval of a high school building plan and transition into a full P-12 school caused quite a stir in its current school community, especially with the announcement that the addition of a Year Seven class will commence in the 2016 school year.

A ceremony will take place on Sabbath 13 June at 2:30 pm to dedicate the building site for Wahroonga’s new P-12 campus. All are invited to attend. If you do plan on joining in the celebration please RSVP at wasgroundbreak. app.rsvpify.com by 8 June, as light refreshments will be offered at the Fox Valley Community Centre directly after the ceremony is complete.

Some of the most excited and relieved about the announcement are those whose children are in Year Six at Wahroonga Adventist School (WAS) this year. Sarah Jameson is one of the parents thrilled with the news. “We are delighted that we will be able to continue our children’s education at Wahroonga Adventist”, Jameson says. “We have been eagerly awaiting news about the high school, and we are relieved and excited to hear that it is going ahead next year.”

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May - June 2015 \ www.sydney.adventist.org.au

“Wahroonga and the upper North Shore are desperately in need of a co-ed, mid-priced high school with strong values and a nurturing environment. This will allow our four children to be educated together and we are really pleased about this.” News is now beginning to ripple out into the wider community, and the school is being inundated with enquiries from those hoping to find out more about what is planned for next year.

The new school campus is an 18-month build, so classes will be held in modular classrooms at the start of 2016, with the new campus completed in time for the 2017 school year. Principal Michelle Streatfeild assures that the same quality of education and personal attention will hold all the way through to Year 12.

“Our approach to a P-12 school will be three small schools in one, so that we can cater to the particular needs of students where they are at developmentally. This is why we have chosen to have a primary, middle and high school.”

More information is available on the school’s website (wahroonga.adventist.org.edu.au) to show the structure and focus of this approach to three small schools.

Students are also excited about the opportunity to continue their education at Wahroonga and not needing to transition into a different school. When a Year Six student was asked by the Australian Union Conference film crew about his school experience and why he wants to continue his high school education at Wahroonga Adventist School he said, “Well, I love the sports; you guys do that really well, and the academics are good too. I enjoy the Bible stories - they are really interesting, but why I really want to stay though, and what I haven’t told my mom yet, is that it’s an Adventist school.”

This unscripted answer is insightful and touching; it is also an incredible reminder of how Adventist education plays an active part in the work of the Adventist church as a whole. To keep up-to-date with the development progress of the build and Wahroonga Adventist School, you can visit the school’s site (wahroonga.adventist.edu.au) or alternatively go to the Education section of the Greater Sydney Conference site (sydney.adventist.org.au), where information from all of the Greater Sydney Adventist schools is available.

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8 Types of Church P lants in Sydney 1

Mother-Daughter Church Plant: An established church sees the need to plant a new church in an unreached community. The church forms a church planting team and suppor ts the church plant until the new congregation becomes viable. By implementing effective leadership development and multiplication processes, a healthy church plant is launched and the mother church becomes healthier as well through the planting process.

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Pioneering Team: The Holy Spirit inspires a small team of people with the shared vision and need to reach a par ticular unreached people group. This team develops its discipleship strategy and steps out in faith to star t connecting with unchurched people. The church grows as the team leads people from the community to Jesus and disciples them into His kingdom.

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House Church Network: A house church network is a simple, low-cost and highly relational way of reaching people in the community. The people involved meet weekly in homes to worship together, sing, pray, study the Bible and fellowship together. The goal is to connect with people in the community, to disciple new Christians and to develop leaders with the view of multiplying the house churches in the network. It is impor tant to note that the weekly house church meeting is the regular church worship for everyone involved. The house church network can complement this weekly house church fellowship by periodically meeting together for a larger worship service.

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Planting Partnership: Two or more established churches identify the need to work together to plant another church in an unreached area. The leadership teams of these churches collaborate to build a church planting team and develop the plans to plant the new congregation. All the churches in the par tnership suppor t the launch and growth of the new church during the initial stages. This inter-church collaboration enhances the viability of the new church and builds positive relationships between the churches.

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Multi-site Church: A growing church sees the oppor tunity to reach more people by replicating its services in other locations. A leadership team provides vision and direction for all of the congregations.

The congregations at the other locations can either be led by a leader who has been trained by the founding church, or they can simultaneously watch the same sermon via video-link. All of the congregations within the multi-site church share the same or very similar leadership structures, vision and strategies.

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Evangelistic Campaign: An evangelistic campaign is organised in a neutral venue, such as a school, RSL club or community centre. The people from the community who attend the whole campaign develop a real sense of community with the other attendees, and a church plant is formed at the end of the campaign.

Leadership structures need to be well-planned and established soon after the church plant is launched. This is a very effective way of consolidating the decisions of people who respond to evangelistic campaigns and discipling new Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

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Church Replant: A small church with a dwindling, older congregation recognises the need to transform itself in order to reach the surrounding community. The existing leadership team hands over the leadership baton to a younger leadership team and allows them to replant the church, recognising that significant changes will need to be made in the process. When handled with care and courage, this results in a vibrant new church being launched in an existing facility.

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Conference-initiated Mission Project: Through studying the demographics of its territory, the Conference identifies a par ticular unreached area or people group. The Conference facilitates the appointment of leaders for this church plant project, which may involve appointing a pastor to lead the project, and empowers the leaders to build a missional team for the church plant.

Listed above are several effective ways for churches to be planted in the Greater Sydney area, as presented by Sven Ă–string, Director of Discipleship Movements in the Greater Sydney Conference

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What’s New With Church P lants: Indian-Fijian Adventist Church

Five years ago, Prem and Prem Chand initiated house worship once a month at their home for Fijian Indians as there was no Fijian-Indian Seventh-day Adventist church. Numbers began to grow, various families began hosting to share the blessing. People read the Bible, sang hymns in Hindi, listened to a sermon, opened the Sabbath and shared a homecooked dinner. Friends from different beliefs including Catholic, Pentecostal, Hindu, and Sikh religions attended. Numbers hit the 40 mark and they began to run out of space. Soon after, the Holy Spirit led them to Hoxton Park Church, where they gather the last Friday of each month.

There is an open invitation for people from the Indian or Fijian-Indian communities to attend. Contact: Prem on 0413 540 618; Bob 0431 176 391; Atish 0412 415 547; Ashok 0410 542 512.

Eastwood Chinese Church Plant

Five church members at Strathfield Chinese Church had a vision to evangelise the Chinese people in Eastwood and the surrounding suburbs. They star ted by meeting and praying together ; studying the Bible and Ellen G. White’s writings; poring over Jesus’ Great Commission and having discussions in church board meetings and with the Conference Office. After a long search, they were grateful to God to finally find Eastwood Hall. Their first meeting was on 21 June 2014. 18 April 2015, Madam Chen, an 80-year old Chinese doctor found the Eastwood Church from reading a health seminar ad in the Chinese newspaper. Ever since, she has come to church and has fallen in love with the members and the church’s teaching and gotten baptised.

New Hope Church Plant

When the planning began for New Hope, leaders were prepared to be thankful for 20 people, but God had other plans. 13 weeks in and they are full and alive with a consistant attendance of around 160 souls! They are fast-filling their roles for a fully functional church, complete with children’s Sabbath schools, an amazing worship team and weekly lunch, where everyone pitches in. Through the use of Facebook, live streaming on findJesus. tv and TV broadcast, God is reaching into the local region of Quakers Hill and sending New Hope across the globe. They have completed Salt evangelism training and are ready in the near future to head out into the community with the “Yes We Care” outreach program. They are excited to see new faces each Sabbath from various faith backgrounds, and they feel so privileged to be par t of a movement eagerly awaiting to see where God will lead next. What an amazing God we serve!

Sans Souci Church Plant

Over the past 8 months the Sans Souci church plant team, comprised mostly of young people, with a passion for sharing Jesus in the area, has been reaching out by running a holistic health ministry. What star ted as a free fitness boot camp every Sunday, by the grace of God has expanded to free raw (plant-based) cooking demonstrations. “Our target audience as a church plant are single mothers and young couples with families.

This means we’re focusing our energy on setting-up a healthy vibrant children’s ministry. We are still a few months off from having a worship service. Currently we’re meeting every Monday night in a small group setting to study the word of God and every Sabbath for tnight to pray for our harvest list and prayerfully discuss how God intends for us to move forward within our community. We are excited about what God has in store for us”, says Luke Sau, a member of the church plant team.

Harvest Church Plant

The latest of three church plants at Hoxton Park, The Harvest Group has sprung up as a result of a Spirit-led conviction to reach the Bossley Park community. “We currently meet in a home each Friday evening, worship, pray and share a light meal. We plan to meet once a month for a church service. Later this year, we look forward to letterboxing, door-knocking and having a team of Literature Evangelists work the area and have evangelism. The intent is to follow-up Bible studies and fur ther develop a presence in the new area. Our desire for making disciples for Christ must be in line with the existing church from which we spring up. Unity among us and a mutual benefit to both groups is vitally impor tant” shared Jim Tyrokomos, member of the Harvest Church Plant Team.

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baked stuffed potatoes Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes Serves 4 4 medium potatoes, cut in half ¼ cup red lentils 1 celery stick, diced 1 carrot, finely diced 1 cup reduced salt vegetable stock ¼ cup Sanitarium So Good soy milk ¼ cup cashew nuts, toasted and roughly chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Wrap each potato in foil and bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

2. Place lentils, carrot, celery and stock in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Scoop out flesh of potatoes leaving a hole for filling. Mix potato with lentil mixture and So Good then return to potatoes 4. Sprinkle with cashews and serve with a green salad.

Per Ser ve: 795kJ ( 190Cal); Protein 8g; Total Fat 5g; Saturated Fat 1g; Carbohydrate 24g; Sugars 3g; Fibre 5g; Sodium 220mg; Potassium 785mg; Iron 2.2mg; Calcium 45mg.

Adventist Counsellors Network Currently counsellors, social workers and psychologists have joined to form the Adventist Counsellors Network (ACN) to gain suppor t from other professionals. Talking about their experiences of being a Christian in their profession and fulfilling their requirements for continuing professional development, they share resources and ideas about work practices and discuss presentations about relevant topics.

If you are interested in joining ACN please contact either Claire Marsh (clairemarsh@adventist.org.au) or Wanda Bierschbach (wanda.b@me.com.)

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Adventist Counsellor’s Network (ACN), formed in 2014, is a professional development group for Adventists working in counselling or mental health fields.

Contributed by Claire Marsh, Manager of Adventist Counselling Services

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Church Fitness FitnesS

Strategies Do you have a sneaking suspicion that your church may not be as healthy as it could be? Or perhaps you already know that your church is really unhealthy and are silently crying out for healing and renewal. What can you do?

Pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit and search the Bible for God’s wisdom. As God Himself said, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” 2 Chronicles 7:14. It all star ts with reaching up to God, our Creator and the Source of life.

Honestly and objectively assess the health of your church. You could do this by planning a reflection time with the leadership team of your church where you can openly identify the areas of weakness that need to be improved. A more thorough and comprehensive approach is to under take a structured church health assessment, such as the Natural Church Development (NCD) survey.

Identify key strategies to address areas of weakness in your church. These strategies need to have SMART goals, ie goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-framed.

If you really want to grow and become healthy, you need to set SMART goals and not just talk abstractly about how you wish you could be better than you currently are.

After establishing clear SMART goals, your leadership team needs to establish ways of monitoring these areas in your church and keeping everyone accountable to the vision and the goals that you have set. This needs to be done in a gracious and encouraging way—nothing is going to turn away people from your church faster than if you use judgmental or heavy-handed approaches to trying to become healthier and more loving! However, you do need to be courageous and kind in encouraging everyone to achieve the vision of the church.

Finally, your leadership team needs to assess the progress of your church. If you have made significant progress, by the grace of God, it is reason to celebrate and praise God for what He has done in your church.

Now that you know the process through which growth can be achieved, you can take fur ther steps to grow. It may be possible that you are not satisfied with the growth that has occurred. This is the time to objectively assess how more significant growth can occur in your church. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in ever y way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by ever y joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Ephesians 4:15,16

Characteristics

of a Healthy Church

Based on extensive studies of churches around the world, the Natural Church Development (NCD) research project has identified that healthy churches have the following characteristics:

• • • • • • • •

Empowering leadership Gift-based ministry Passionate spirituality Effective structures Inspiring worship services Holistic small groups Need-oriented evangelism Loving relationships

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Globally, the weakest characteristics of our movement include loving relationships and holistic small groups. The strongest characteristics of the Seventh-day Adventist church are need-oriented evangelism and passionate spirituality.

What about your local church? What are the weakest characteristics of your church?

What would you say are its strongest characteristics?

www.sydney.adventist.org.au / May - June 2015 13

Well, how long can you hold your breath?

24.....

25.....

26.....

Star t

HERE!

27.....

Are you leading a church ministry but feel...

Tired...Burdened Unmotivated, & Struggling to Survive?

God-Breathed inspiration

28.....

Can you laugh without breath?

Can you celebrate without breath?

29.....

30.... **Sigh!**

Can you make music without breath?

Can you sing without breath?

for you and your church

14

May - June 2015 \ www.sydney.adventist.org.au

Can you start a fire without breath?

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Just like your body needs breath, you and your church need the breath of the Holy Spirit for life

=

BREATH!

TOP 5

Date:

REASONS TO ATTEND 1

2-5 October

Energised Church

Branimir Schubert, former Director of Leadership Development at the South Pacific Division will provide vision and inspiration for your church’s ministries!

Leadership Streams

2

The workshops align with the ministries within your local church Leadership Church Planting Discipleship

inspiration for you and

Youth & Children Communications

@ the table sessions

Unpack the keynote sessions and interact with other leaders throughout the Sydney area @ the table

your church

Breat he life into your

Allow God to

church, its leaders, its ministries and you!

Let God breathe a fresh breath of inspiration into you and your church.

Safe Places

3

God-breathed Inspiration

4

Come away with new ideas for your spiritual life, ministry, outreach and leadership

5

From survive to thrive

Move beyond simply trying to survive in your ministry and spiritual life to a sense of thriving through Jesus’ power and breath of life.

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Are you a ministry leader or interested in getting involved in leadership?

As a follower of Jesus, are you interested in developing effective ways to share your faith, discovering ways to energise your church and spirtually moving beyond survival?

Faith-Sharing

God-Breathed

WHO:

INSPIRE is for you!

Register: sydney.org. au/inspire

Location: Meroo Centre

See You

THERE!

www.sydney.adventist.org.au / May - June 2015 15

INSPIRE2015 MERROO CHRISTIAN CENTRE sydney.adventist.org.au/inspire

E N I L N O K BOO N OW FO RI N G K O O B Y L R A E S E T A R L A I S P EC

God-Br eathed Inspiration for you and your chur ch 2-5 OCTOBER